‘Extra tasty’ chicken, Mediterranean veg, garlic bread

Mum has had a really good day today: she has been alert, amusing, attentive, and just all around so much herself that genuinely cried. (The television is currently playing coverage of Chelsea Flower Show, and as the flower-filled title credits rolled mum glanced at the screen and said “nice geum”. Yesterday she asked me whether I’m her sister or her daughter, and what my name is: today she can name a flower species from a passing glance.)

Of course, the downside of that alertness is that she is aware of her own diminishing facilties. At one point, while scrolling through Facebook, something about dementia popped up and mum rapidly swiped it away, saying “I don’t want to know about that; I know my head’s not right and I don’t want to think about it any more than that.”

With mum so capable, it was a perfect opportunity for me to get on with some of the many things on my to do list, but I was struck with a bout of such exhaustion that putting away the groceries and ordering an activity book for mum – whose awareness extends to an understanding that the best thing to relieve her attacks of anxiety is to distract herself – has been about the limit of my activity today. Oh well, there’s always tomorrow.

Dinner was of the freezer-oven-plate kind: I’m so grateful that Iceland offers so many interesting options that can be kept in the freezer until needed.

Mum said she wasn’t very hungry, then served herself two and a half of the three pieces of chicken I had cooked, a generous half of the Mediterranean veg, and the same of the garlic bread (which she had been adamant she didn’t want at all). I checked she really wanted all that food, and she assured me, a touch irritably, that she did.

Sitting down to eat, she realised her eyes were far larger than her stomach, and transferred a piece of chicken and a piece of garlic bread to my plate. The “too big” piece of strawberry cheesecake I served her, on the other hand, disappeared with no trouble at all!

So that’s that for another day. Tomorrow I will definitely do something constructive. Probably. Maybe.